Fourth federal lawsuit launched against Pacific NorthWest LNG

This morning in Vancouver, Inland B.C. hereditary First Nations Chiefs joined others in announcing that they have launched a 4th lawsuit against the approval Ottawa issued for the project. They state the terminal is an “infringement” on fishing rights.

2 Gitxsan Nation chiefs: Charlie Wright with the Luutkudziiwus house group, and Yvonne Lattie with the Gwininitxw house group filed a judicial review this morning.

The leaders come from Indigenous lands near Hazleton, B.C. near the upper Skeena watershed. They say salmon levels have become crucially low.

“We have a message for the Pacific Northwest LNG project’s investors in Asia. Sell your stock. The Canadian government’s decision to approve this project did not respect our fishing rights protected under the Canadian Constitution. We were not consulted,” said Yvonne Lattie, Gitxsan Hereditary Chief of Wilp Gwininitxw from Vancouver

Charlie Wright also said that he wants to see the project stopped and has faith that it will be.

“This LNG project will be stopped. We don’t give a damn about Christy Clark’s re-election, Trudeau’s deal-making, or Petronas’ hopes to sell fracked gas. That terminal is bad news for our salmon up the Skeena River,” said Richard Wright, a spokesperson for Luutkudziiwus hereditary chief Charlie Wright

The chiefs claim that during the government’s consultation that was done by the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, they were open to participating but were offered very little money to give technical input or were told that they were not affected directly by the project.

Judicial reviews were also filed back on October 27th by the Gitanyow and Gitwilgyoots tribes, and the SkeenaWild Conservation Trust.

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